'Light, Clocks and Sleep'

'Light, Clocks and Sleep''s image
Created: 2013-03-06 14:02
Institution: Office of External Affairs and Communications
Description: Light, Clocks and Sleep: The Discovery of a New Photoreceptor within the Eye

Until the late 1990’s it seemed inconceivable to most vision biologists that there could be an unrecognised class of light sensor within the eye. After all, the eye was the best understood part of the central nervous system. One hundred and fifty years of research had explained how we see: Light is detected by the rods and cones of the retina and their responses are assembled into an “image” by inner retinal neurones, followed by advanced visual processing in the brain. This representation of the eye left no room for an additional class of ocular photoreceptor. However, work in a variety of animals, including mice and humans, overturned this conventional view of the eye. We now know that the rods and cones are not alone.

Image courtesy of: Grégoire Lannoy from Flickr Creative Commons
 

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Cambridge Neuroscience Public Lecture in association with the BNA with Professor Russell Foster: 'Light, Clocks and...

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Cambridge Neuroscience in association with the British Neuroscience Association was delighted to welcome Professor Russell Foster from the University of Oxford to deliver the...

Collection: Cambridge Neuroscience

Institution: Department of Pharmacology

Created: Fri 23 Mar 2012